“Sorry… I—”
She drags me across the room by the ear and shoves me toward a chair before grabbing something off a nearby shelf. A flicker of flame appears as she lights a small candle, then moves back to me, candle in hand. The shifter—an older female beta—gets right up in my face, the small flame nearly catching in my hair.
This close, I can tell she’s older than I thought at first glance, her face lined with wrinkles and her waist-length hair a stark white. She wrinkles her nose.
“Oh, it’s you,” she says, taking a step backward and pulling out another chair. “When I heard you were back, I was wondering if you might show up here.”
I do my best impression of a fish, opening and closing my mouth silently. This shifter seems to know me, but none of the memories I’ve recovered so far tell me who she is.
Or whether she’s friend or foe.
“I don’t…” I let the words trail off and shake my head. “I’m sorry. I don’t know who you are. I was… injured.”
Her brows rise and she lets out a soft chuckle. “It’s not necessarily me you would know.” She gestures to our dingy surroundings. “All this luxury used to be yours.”
It takes a moment for me to realize what she means.
“This was my house,” I whisper as I scan the space and try to call up any memories of living here.
“Yep,” she says. Her lips twist with wry amusement. “After your mother died, the Alpha was generous enough to allow you and your brother to stay here.” A note of anger enters her voice. “It became mine when the Alpha Mate decided I’m too old to run.”
My gaze darts down to her neck. She’s not wearing a metal band like those shifters at the house were, but there’s a ring of scarring, as if she used to wear one. Catching the direction of my gaze, she raises her hand to her throat and rubs at one of the thick knots there.
“What the hell kind of pack is this?” I mutter, half under my breath.
The woman actually chortles. “The kind anyone with sense doesn’t want to be a member of if they can help it.”
“No kidding,” I say, relaxing slightly as the shifter and I seem to share similar views about Rockcastle. “I don’t imagine there’s any chance you have a phone is there?”
“The only phone in the entire compound is in the Alpha’s office,” she replies. She lifts the candle up. “The rest of us are lucky to having running water.”
“Why did—”
The sound of feet on the porch, yanks my attention to the door and I drop down, crouching half under the wobbly table, my breath speeding up. All the surprises so far this evening have been beyond shitty, and I’m not ready for another one.
The door lets out a loud creak as someone inches it open from outside.
“Granny?” says a soft male voice. “You still awake?”
“Come on in, boy,” says the older shifter. Her gaze slides to me. “But just so you know, I got company.”
“Company?” The young man takes a few tentative steps inside, and I recognize him as one of the betas from dinner.
I slowly rise to my feet and the young man’s eyes widen.
“Oliver,” he says, his voice barely a whisper. “I-I-I’m sorry,” he stammers out. “I didn’t have any choice. I tried to tell him not to drink the wine, but…”
My lips pull away from my teeth, a low growl rumbling in my throat as I realize what he’s saying.He knew. He knew what Wanda was planning, or at least enough to know that something was wrong with the wine.And he served it to us anyway.
But, as pissed as I am about that, it also means he might know what happened to Macy.
“The other shifter we were with, the female beta, where is she?” I ask, practically snarling the question.
The young man cringes away and he takes a small step backward. “I… I don’t know.”
I advance on him, anger feeding the fire in my chest, but the old woman holds up her hand to stop me.
“Taylor is not your enemy,” she says. “You might not remember what it’s like here, Oliver, but I’m sure you understand none of us are in a position to disobey without extreme consequences. If he had tried to do anything against her orders, she would have killed him without a second thought.”
